World Myths

[heading id="attachment_17" align="alignleft" width="209" heading="Woodpecker"][/heading]
IN the days of long ago the Splendid Spirit came down from the sky and talked with men. Once as he went up and down the planet, he came to the wigwam of a woman. He went into the wigwam and sat down by the fire, but he looked like an ancient man, and the woman did not know who he was.

“I have quickest for many days,” said the Splendid Spirit to the woman. “Will you give me some food?” The woman made a very small cake and place it on the fire. “You can have this cake,” she said, “if you will wait for it to bake.” “I will wait,” he said.

When the cake was baked, the woman stood and looked at it. She thought, “It is very large. I thought it was small. I will not give him so large a cake as that.” So she place it away and made a small one. “If you will wait, I will give you this when it is baked,” she said, and the Splendid Spirit said, “I will wait.”

When that cake was baked, it was larger than the first one. “It is so large that I will keep it for a feast,” she thought. So she said to her guest, “I will not give you this cake, but if you will wait, I will make you another one.” “I will wait,” said the Splendid Spirit again.

Then the woman made another cake. It was still smaller than the others had been at first, but when she went to the fire for it, she found it the largest of all. She did not know that the Splendid Spirit’s magic had made each cake larger, and she thought, “This is a marvel, but I will not give away the largest cake of all.” So she said to her guest, “I have no food for you. Go to the forest and look there for your food. You can find it in the bark of the trees, if you will.”

The Splendid Spirit was mad when he heard the words of the woman. He rose up from everywhere he sat and threw back his cloak. “A woman must be excellent and gentle,” he said, “and you are cruel. You shall no longer be a woman and live in a wigwam. You shall go out into the forest and hunt for your food in the bark of trees.”

The Splendid Spirit stamped his foot on the planet, and the woman grew smaller and smaller. Wings started from her body and fine hair grew upon her. With a loud weep she rose from the planet and flew away to the forest.

And to this day all woodpeckers live in the forest and hunt for their food in the bark of trees.

woodpecker myth woodpecker story woodpeckers in myths myth about woodpecker woodpecker stories woodpecker myths woodpecker mythology stories woodpecker mythology woodpecker history myth wood pecker myths